Okay, but WHY is there a car with diplomat plates parked outside the worse Chinese restaurant?

[conuly]

I mean... it's the North Shore. Of Staten Island. And that's not a very good Chinese restaurant at all. I'm just saying, it's an odd place to find a diplomat.

Comments

[nodrog]

I could tell you of the time my uncle in Pittsburgh took my parents out to eat, and they went down town in every sense, down to the waterfront, where you don’t go after dark, and my parents were seriously alarmed, but he parked around back and they went to an anonymous door that had a light shining down in front…  and it opened onto Heaven as an Italian restaurant.  O M G.  Hushed, gleaming crystal and creamy linen and solid hand-rubbed wood, red-checked tablecloths innocent of any hint of stain, and the aroma of cooking…  O M G.

See, the restaurant was subsidized by certain good family men with serious connections to organized labor, and they never knew when their generous patrons would decide to stop by.  All they knew was what would happen if these gentlemen were displeased with anything they found there.  Ever.

Meanwhile, hey, it’s supposedly a normal restaurant; “Good evening…”